Calleigh bit on her bottom lip in an effort to keep the sharp retort from escaping her mouth, "Agent Collins, he needs your help."
The voice on the other end sighed dramatically, "We've been through this numerous times before, I gave your friend ample warning to run before it was too late. It's not my fault that he chose not to listen to me."
"He stuck his neck out for you back in New York, you owe him."
"I don't owe him anything, I gave him a new identity and a new start, it's just a shame that your lieutenant has a penchant for being in the public eye. Maybe if he spent less time playing 'Miami's hero' he might not have popped back up on the Malucci radar."
"Listen you little weasel, he's ten times the man you are! If you think…."
Her words were cut off by the FBI agent's sharp reply, "For someone who's begging for help you seem to forget your manners pretty easily. I do not have to do anything for you and your merry little band of would-be crime fighters. Your friend served a purpose, my business with him is done. Now if you don't mind….."
"They have him, they're torturing him. Don't you care about that?"
"It's…..unfortunate. The Malucci's wanted their pound of flesh, but perhaps if you and your team are as good as you say you are then you'll be able to get to him before it's too late."
"They offered us a proposition, you for him." It was a bare-faced lie, she knew that there would be no way that the Malucci's would let Horatio go but by giving them the heartless FBI agent it would hopefully buy them a little more time to find him.
"That will never happen, " he scoffed. "This is what happens when your birds finally come home to roost. Mr Kelly made his choices back in New York and now he has to pay for the consequences of his actions."
"I'd do it, you know. I'd sell you out in a heartbeat if I knew where you were, Horatio is worth ten of you."
"I'm crushed, Miss Duquesne. Really, I am. I appreciate you giving me a heads-up, once I disconnect from this call the number will no longer be in service. I'll be persona non grata until this whole thing blows over."
"I wouldn't expect anything less from a spineless coward like you. When this is over, I'll come for you and I'll make you pay for this," she said, with venom in her voice.
"While the thought of that chills me to the bone, I don't rate your chances of finding me any time soon. Goodbye, Miss Duquesne."
His head shot up from his chest as he heard the metal door creak open, the noise seemed much louder in the otherwise silent room. He felt relief as he realised that it was Danny and not his crazed and sadistic cousin, Gianni come to finish the game that he'd started.
Pulling a chair close, Danny sat down and regarded his prisoner. "You know, Mr Kelly, I gave your colleagues an ultimatum earlier. It seems as if they have failed to achieve what I asked of them."
He remained silent and continued to glare at his captor. He realised that he had no sense of the passage of time that might have passed since Danny had last visited him, it could have been hours or days since his last 'session'. The lack of natural light in the room had left him feeling disorientated and confused, not helped by the increasing dehydration he was suffering.
"I believe I was quite clear when I advised Miss Duquesne about the consequences should she fail to give me what I wanted. I had hoped it wouldn't come to this but neither of you have led me to the location of Agent Collins and now the time has come for you to pay the price."
Danny pulled a cell phone from his jacket pocket and began dialling a number, casting glances at the man bound before him as he placed it on loudspeaker.
"Yes, boss?" a tinny voice came through on the other end of the line.
"The boy, do you have him in your sights?"
"Affirmative, the little runt is right in my crosshairs. He'll have no idea what hit him; want me to take the hot blonde out too?"
"No leave her; I want to see her suffer too."
"You want me to take the shot?"
"Yes, take the shot."
He realized all too late as the meaning of the conversation sank slowly into his muddled mind as he heard the sound of a gunshot followed by people screaming and shouting. The noise stopped abruptly as Danny disconnected the call; he looked up at his captor, his face a mix of shock and pure terror.
"Was it worth it, Mr Kelly?" Danny asked as he placed the phone back in his pocket. "Was it worth sacrificing your son's life for that lowly FBI agent?"
Panic began to set in as his addled brain started putting the pieces of the puzzle into place, his captor had made good on his threat and killed his son. They had killed an innocent boy whose only crime was being the son of a liar and a coward. If he had not run away from New York all those years ago then he would never have brought his downfall upon his innocent and unknowing child.
There was still so much he didn't know about the boy in the photograph but he was certain that he was his son and now he would never get the chance to make things right with him. He'd stolen the childhoods of his captors when he sold their fathers out to the FBI and now they had done the same to him and had taken their revenge out on his own flesh and blood.
He began pulling violently at the ropes that bound him to the metal chair even though he knew that it was already too late to save the boy. Tears sprang from his eyes as his mind assaulted him with vague images of the young man. He pulled harder in an effort to free himself from the confines of the chair as feelings of complete heartbreak and desolation spilled out of him in an uncontrollable torrent.
He heard Danny laugh as his struggles caused the chair to topple over once more as he landed heavily on his side. The pain his movements caused barely registered as he became overcome by his grief, as the tears ran down his face he felt what little fight he had left in him leave his battered and weary body. They had killed his son; he had nothing else left to fight for.
Calleigh felt the distinctive vibration of a text message from her phone as she stood staring out of the window in Horatio's office, watching as lab technicians and police officers walked to and from the building, seemingly going about their day-to-day business. Pulling out her cell phone she read the message from Eric.
"Call me." It said.
She reluctantly dialled his number, still smarting from his hurtful words a few hours before and not wanting another run-in with him.
"Cal, is this a good time to talk?"
"That depends, are you going to question by ability to lead the team again?" Her tone was harsh and unforgiving, Eric's earlier words had wounded her deeply and she was in no mood to take any more disparaging comments from him.
"I'm sorry; I was out of line earlier. I just wanted to let you know that our discussions with the owners of the stolen vans didn't turn up much in the way of anything to help us track Horatio's whereabouts down."
"So, we still have nothing then?"
"I'm afraid so. Look, I was thinking about what you said earlier, about concentrating our search on the area around Lake Okeechobee and you're right. Let's play the Malucci's at their own game, get to them before they realise that we're on to them."
She sighed in frustration, "We don't even know if that's where they are, what if we've got it wrong?"
"It's a risk worth taking; it's the only lead we've got at the moment. I say we go all in and hope to God that we're right."
The gambling metaphor wasn't lost on Calleigh and it dawned on her what a horrible job it must be to have to be the one to make the tough decisions all the time. She wondered how Horatio managed to do it, take the gambles and make the right choices so that others didn't have to. Because he leads from the front, that's why. Now it was time to make the tough choice and take the biggest gamble of her life.
"Ok," she said finally, "Get the team and Frank up to speed; tell them we need as many bodies as we can scanning every damn inch of that search radius and get a chopper in the sky if you can. If we're going to do this we might as well throw everything we have at it."
"You got it, Cal."